this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8pm: a canadian kidnapped with his wife and held for nearly five years in afghanistan speaks for the first time about their ordeal at the hands of the taliban. it will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call our home and focus on edification and try to regain some portion of the childhood that they have lost. tougher sentences for the perpetrators of acid attacks — victims give a cautious welcome to proposals for minimum jail terms. the fear of going to jail is always a deterrent in some way, even if it's a small way. so a start is good as i'm saying, there's still more that needs to be done. also in the next hour — the hollywood establishment holds crisis talks over harvey weinstein. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences, which awards the oscars, are voting on whether to throw him out after a string of sex assault allegations.

and a warning of heavy rain and wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour as hurricane ophelia tears across the atlantic towards the uk. good evening and welcome to bbc news. a canadian man kidnapped with his pregnant wife in afghanistan has been speaking about the five years they spent in captivity. joshua boyle and his wife were released earlier this week after being held hostage by islamic militants linked to the taliban. mr boyle told reporters his wife caitlin had been raped, that she had given birth to four children in captivity, and one had been murdered.

john mcmanus reports. afghanistan. outside the capital many parts of the country remain in the grip of islamist militants. it was to hear that canadianjoshua boyle and his heavily pregnant wife caitlin coleman travelled, he says to carry out aid work. but instead the couple were kidnapped by members of the haqqani network linked to the taliban. over five years their captors attempted to use them as bargaining chips, releasing a number of videos. in one of them the couple's children can be seen. all four were born in captivity. we are the worst to have a prisoner exchange with. on wednesday they were finally freed by pakistani forces and arrived in toronto late last night where joshua boyle outlined their grim ordeal including the horrific murder of his daughter. the stupidity and the evil of the haqqani networks kidnapping of a

pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in taliban controlled regions of afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorising the murder of my infant daughter. marta boyle. he said his wife was raped by the militants. the canadian government has welcomed the family's safe return home. i'm going to ask people to respect their privacy and understand they've been through an extremely difficult period right now. and... but i can certainly say that we are pleased that the ordeal they've been through over these past years has finally come to an end. joshua boyle's parents described talking to their son to the first time in five years. we were told the wonderful news that our family had been rescued. 20 minutes later we were allowed to actually talk with josh. that's the first time in five years. while both sets of

grandparents are undoubtedly relieved, caitlin coleman's own father, jim, says his daughter should never have been taken to such a dangerous place. that we are able to build a secure century for our three surviving children... butjoshua boyle says he now hopes his surviving children can start again. john mcmanus, bbc news. tougher prison sentences are being proposed to tackle acid attacks. they've more than doubled in britain in the past five years and the home office is proposing a minimum six month jail term for anyone repeatedly caught carrying acid or other corrosive substances in england, wales or scotland. some victims have said that doesn't go far enough. there are some disturbing images at the start of alexandra mackenzie's report. acid attacks can have devastating consequences. there were more than 400 in the uk between november 2016 and april this year. the agony of the aftermath

of an acid attack in east london in july. delivery driverjaved hussain said it melted his motorbike helmet, which saved his face from long—term damage. he is calling for tougher sentencing for those involved. i started screaming. then i realised that's acid. i was just screaming on the street. crying for water, like, getting more dry and getting more worse. and i thought my face has been destroyed. i think he should be punished for that, because he wanted to destroy somebody‘s identity, destroy somebody‘s face. the government wants to give police more powers to prevent such assaults. i think it's really important that we send out a very strong message that, you know, carrying a corrosive substance ina public place unless you've got a really good reason to have it is just totally u na cce pta ble. speak to any victim of an acid attack and they'll be living with lifelong scars.

it's absolutely right that we take this as seriously as any knife attack. under the home office proposals it would be an offence to possess a corrosive substance in public. there would be a ban on the sale of such substances to anyone under 18. and people caught carrying acid twice in public would receive a mandatory minimum six—month prison sentence if over the age of 18. what it'll do is allow us to bring more charges and convictions when it comes to carrying these substances even before they are being used. at the minute we have to prove the intent, the fact why you're carrying that substance. these proposals look to change that. the home office says victims and survivors are at the heart of everything they're doing to reduce the number of acid attacks. but some say the new proposals just don't go far enough and more needs to be done to bring those responsible to justice. london has been worst affected.

and police are being issued with test kits to check the contents of suspicious bottles of liquid. they're also being given protective gloves and water bottles so they can treat victims quickly. together with the proposed new laws, officers hope it'll prevent more attacks. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. the us—backed coalition besieging raqqa in northern syria says that remaining fighters for so—called islamic state must surrender or they will be killed. syrian members of is have now left the city in a convoy of buses, after reaching a deal with local officials, leaving only foreign extremists holding out. the coalition has said it expects to see more heavy fighting, but believes the city will be finally captured within days. some of the most powerful figures in hollywood are meeting

to consider the future of harvey weinstein, the film executive facing a string of sexual assault allegations, including rape. the organisation behind the oscars — the academy of motion picture arts and sciences — is considering whether he should be expelled from the academy. our washington correspondent laura bicker is following developments and explained the significance of the meeting. this is a 5k member board comprising of some of the top executive producers and actors including tom hanks, whoopi goldberg and stephen spielberg. they are meeting to discuss kicking out one of this industry ‘s most powerful producers. avi weinstein stands accused of sexual abuse dating back decades, names which have come forward include gwyneth paltrow, angelina jolie, ashleyjudd. they say he abused his powerful position here in hollywood. he has apologised for some aspects of his behaviour but he denies the allegations, that the sex

was nonconsensual. he has now left la and is believed to be in a rehabilitation. his company which he co—founded, he has been fired from that, his own brother has spoken to the us media this morning and said he did not know anything about these claims of abuse. he said when it came to his brother he was a bully, he felt he suffered at his hands and that he would be pleading with the academy to kick him out. britain has said it will defend the international nuclear deal with iran, after donald trump announced he would no longer endorse it. the us president said iran had already violated the accord, and he threatened to abandon the agreement altogether. the other signatories — including france, china, and germany — have all said they remain committed to the policy. as we have seen in north korea the

longer we ignore a threat the worse that threat becomes. it's why we are determined that the world's leading sponsor determined that the world's leading sponsor of terrorism will never obtain nuclear weapons. at least four people have died after a cargo plane crashed into the sea off the shore of ivory coast. it had taken off from the main airport in the city of abidjan during a heavy storm. six other people, including french nationals, were injured in the crash of the antonov aircraft, which had 10 people on board. hundreds of onlookers gathered at the beach near the crash site, as emergency workers tried to rescue those on board. the aircraft was carrying supplies for the french military. the republic of ireland has issued a ‘status red' weather warning for parts of the country, as hurricane ophelia, currently in the atlantic, heads towards the british isles. the met office says ophelia has strengthened to category 3 and has wind speeds of near 115 miles—per—hour. our presenter matt taylorjoins me.

the republic of ireland will feel the brunt of this storm, if i show you where it is, it's just to the south of the deserters and quite unusually it has been strengthening today. category three status. why? because of the water temperatures in the resume, you need these high temperatures to fuel the storm and also the jet stream in the region has helped strengthen it and it is a jet stream which will start breaking down as well. at the moment it is

category three, the winds just fringing the eastern edges of the zeros and then quite quickly working towards the uk. if i show the track, it remains a potent storm, it gets larger but weakens in strength, going over a cooler waters and the jet stream will impact it as well. into the first part of monday morning we will see it arrive on the south—west coast of the republic of ireland. fight back when we say the first part of monday morning is that the rush—hour, will it be terrible for those in the south west? it will be there, also the winds in the uk, those around the irish sea will see the strongest winds potentially damaging impacts to travel, 70, maybe 80 mph gusts from corn well up to west wales in north—west england, northern ireland and into dumfries & galloway, not everybody will see the strongest winds, furthest east

across wendy a bit breezy but warm sunshine, temperatures could reach it's not been overly active hurricane season but the storms have been particularly strong and made lots of land falls, this coming to oui’ lots of land falls, this coming to our shores will be like an autumn storm, just unusual origin, category three, so far east. but not category free will and makes landfall. no! banks. jeremy corbyn has said conservative infighting over brexit is putting britain on a path to economic disaster. at a speech today the labour leader issued his strongest warning yet about the dangers of leaving the european union without a

trade deal, accusing the government of failing trade deal, accusing the government offailing in trade deal, accusing the government of failing in eggs in negotiations. the government says it is optimistic about reaching a deep and special partnership with the eu. the headlines on bbc news: a canadian kidnapped with his wife and held by the taliban for nearly five years has spoken for the first time about his ordeal — including the murder of their baby daughter. tougher sentences for the perpetrators of acid attacks — victims give a cautious welcome to proposals for minimum jail terms. the hollywood establishment holds crisis talks on harvey weinstein — the board of the oscars is meeting to decide if it will throw him out after allegations of multiple sexual assaults. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton.

good evening, starting with the football, manchester city two points clear at the top of the premier league after dismantling stoke city at home, winning 7—2. kevin de bruyne orchestrated a masterclass, 3-0 bruyne orchestrated a masterclass, 3—0 up inside half an hour, jesus opened the scoring, the first of two for him, stoke city pulled it back to 3-2 for him, stoke city pulled it back to 3—2 early in the second half but manchester city ran wild. kevin de bruyne was highly praised after the match. he's one of the best by far, yeah. he can make everything, he produce a lot of actions so our strikers and attacking midfielders are winners, when he has the ball they know has ability. elsewhere at

crystal palace who had not scored a registered a point this season beat champions chelsea 2—1 at selhurst park. liverpool and manchester united playing out a 0—0 draw in the lunchtime kick—off. west ham were down to ten men within half an hour after andy carroll was sent off for two yellow cards. tammy abraham scored both goals for swansea and watford are up to fourth after they beat arsenal 2—1, the winning goal in injury time. the banner roughly translates as with greater boldness and for the watford players they have so far subscribed, a win would lead them into the top four, one defeat in their opening seven matches, no shame ina their opening seven matches, no shame in a 6—0 thumping from manchester city. mesut ozil on the bench and maize sanchez injured. per mertesacker step forward in his first league start with a first

league goal in almost four years. arsenal were numbered by liverpool in august but had won six of the last seven. mesut ozil was introduced and immediately the gunner seems to have moved up another gear. then hector bellerin got clumsy, deemed to have old richarlison and troy deeney had his first goal of the season. deep in injury time tom cleverley struck and the side were up in the champions league places. it was a scandalous decision to give a penalty like that. but we have to deal with it. on oursidei that. but we have to deal with it. on our side i believe that we had many times the chance to score the second goal and one against one with oui’ second goal and one against one with our goalkeeper and missed it. in the end we got punished in the last second, it's difficult. celtic remain top of the scottish premiership but only on goal difference, they beat dundee i—0,

aberdeen keep up the pressure beating hibernian i—0, they are level on points with celtic. kilmarnock got their first league win of the season with new manager steve clark watching from the stands. it's the opening weekend of the european champions cup, five matches featuring five british side is not a good start for leicester, they opened their campaign with defeat in france, going down 22—18 to racing 92. the pull stage of the champions cup offers many physical challenges, dealing with heat not normally one of them. this looked like paris in springtime. within three minutes racing 92 were chasing the silhouettes of leicester, hamilton gliding through unnoticed. from such promising shoot leicester wilted. racing have an opportunity for signing the big stars. 6—foot seven and i9 signing the big stars. 6—foot seven and 19 stones worth of fijian lock. the team were rampant. thomas adding

a third. the tigers needed their own showman. jonny may, pick him out on the wing and watch him go, seven tries in seven games. leicesterfour behind him but that have had taken its toll, points dried up. the tigers had to make do with a losing bonus point but in this competition every point is hard earned. elsewhere at leinster scored four tries. harlequins lost an enthralling match. bath spend much of their game defending but still won 23—0. and exeter are playing unbeaten pro 14 leaders glasgow. that's all the

sport for now, more later on. scottish labour has raised concerns over increases in primary school class sizes, they say the number of pupils being taught in classes of 30 mark has gone up 40% five years. ministers say they are spending almost £90 million this year to make sure schools have enough teachers. when it comes to education labour are not convinced things are getting better and on the issue of class

sizes they say they are concerned and these concerns have been backed up and these concerns have been backed up by and these concerns have been backed up by official figures. and these concerns have been backed up by officialfigures. the party saysin up by officialfigures. the party says in 2011 the number of children in primary classes of 30 or more stood at more than 31 and a half thousand. the most recent figures from 2016 show that has increased to more than 44 and a half thousand which represents a 40% rise. over the same period there was an increase in the number of primary pupils overall for more than 366,000 to more than 390 6000. scottish schools now have some of the biggest class sizes anywhere in the developed world. that cannot be good for education. it's a betrayal of pa rents for education. it's a betrayal of parents and pupils and teachers to. the education secretary says he's confident the right changes being made. class sizes are of course important which is why the government has invested to maintain

the pupil teacher ratio in scottish education. we have also legislated to reduce class sizes for primary one pupils to make sure the youngest pupils get off to the best start possible in full—time education. further improvements may need more cash, ministers are considering using new holyrood powers to boost public services like education by raising income tax. labour says they need to get on with doing it right now. a woman who was gored by a stag in richmond park said she thought she was going to die. she was filming the deer winnie stagg charged that are causing serious wounds. she spoke to our reporter and showed us the video she was recording moments before the attack. still fragile and only just before the attack. still fragile and onlyjust home from hospital, snl¥=— after onl¥=—7 after brutally

by; stag. she..- ,, in 3 ”7”? park she..- ,, in, park moments she..- ,, the ini park moments she..- ,, the mg ran§ park moments she..- ,, the mg rang her. k moments she..- ,, the mg rang her. he|oments she..- ,, the mg ran 2 her. he used 1ts before the deer ran at her. he used his antler to attack my upper thigh and midlands area with enormous force and visually the floor. i felt extreme pain in my stomach and thighs. at that moment i think i am going to die in this park. i did think about that. it is mating season think about that. it is mating season for deer whose population is said to be at its largest for 1000 yea rs said to be at its largest for 1000 years but experts say it's rare for them to attack human but she wants to make other londoners aware of the dangers. icy wildlife every day in london, i have got very used to it. also there is lots of photographs online that you can see of people petting deer and feeding them, laying next to them and taking a

photo. so that's creates an illusion. whatever the temptation of a cute photo opportunity the advice is clear, deer are wild and territorial animals and it's best to put at least 50 metres between you and them, especially at this time of year. forget the usual stereotypes about student. meet maureen matthews, who is just starting a law degree at the tender age of 79. i may look old but inside there is a younger person still coming out with the same aspirations. this isn't an evening course, she'll be studying full—time

for the next three years at the university of west london. what's it like studying with people who are so much than yourself? delightful. the reason being is that they have a flexibility of mind. they have the ability to be spontaneous. how they group together, how they make sure that they support each other and that means support even the old lady! there has been an increase in older students on full—time university courses. but they're still pretty rare. only 25 students aged over 70 started last year. at this university, they pride themselves on having students from all ages and backgrounds. rita, a relative youngster compared to maureen, says the different generations help each other. they say, rita... i think all of them, we help each other. like, they are strong in some areas, maybe i'm strong in other areas, so we all come together. we have a study group. even our session has a study group, helping each other to pass the assessments and we all passed

in the group and nobody had to resit. but what do the younger students make of their veteran classmates? it was quite surprising when i came in for induction day. i expect a lot of teenagers and then when i saw the different ages from all sorts of different places, it was quite nice. if anything i find it inspirational that they can feel like they can come back into education and, yeah, it's really interesting because they always seem to have a lot more knowledge. but maureen says age shouldn't be a barrier to anyone wanting a new challenge later in life. i say go at it! really go at it. all older people are capable of being up to a challenge. they've been through life where they've had to meet up with many, many challenges. a new £600 million toll bridge over the river mersey opened earlier this morning. the mersey gateway route

is the largest infrastructure project in england outside london and connects runcorn and widnes in cheshire. andy gill reports. hundreds of people lined the banks of the mersey to watch a spectacular firework display a few hours before the new bridge opened. it links widnes on the north bank and runcorn on the south. tolls aside, the locals approve. it's very smart. it reminds me of the one in america. i think it's brilliant. a long—time overdue. yeah, it's a fantastic development. and just past midnight the bridge was opened. hundreds of bikers among the first to cross. the mersey gateway bridge is the biggest civil engineering project in the country, outside london. the total cost is more than £1.8 billion. 20 million vehicles every year are expected to use it and its 810 miles of cable would stretch

from lands end tojohn o'groats. the old runcorn—widnes bridge now closes for a year for repairs. when it opens, both mersey crossings will be tolled. locals can travel free if they pay a registration fee, but there's real anger among the individuals and businesses who'll have to pay. the transport secretary says the bridge should be free to use once it is paid for in 2042. thousands of people have been gathering to watch this mass of ascension of hot—air balloons on the last weekend of the international balloon fiesta in new mexico. the festival is held against the

backdrop of the regions desert landscape, you can imagine how beautiful it is. it includes inflata ble beautiful it is. it includes inflatable characters hovering over the city, joining the traditional hot—air balloons. as if that's not enough you can also partake in some chainsaw carving. there you go. let's find out how the weather is looking. pretty mild out there at the moment and temperatures will not drop through the night too badly, strongest across western areas, gale force highlands and islands later on iof rain force highlands and islands later on i of rain and heavy and persistent spot of rain and drizzle most will be dry and clear skies eastern parts sunshine we best sunshine on sunday clothes scotland northern ireland rain and drizzle becoming lighter and patchy spreading south, brighter

conditions to finish the day and the winds is not quite as strong but with quite breaks across england and wales temperatures could be higher than the chart, could head around 23. sunday into monday the remnants of hurricane ophelia reaching the republic of ireland, bears the brunt of the worst of the winds, western fringes of england wales and northern ireland could see winds gusting at 60, 70, maybe 80. i've now. hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. the headlines. a canadian kidnapped with his wife and held for nearly five years by the taliban has been talking of their ordeal, including the murder of their baby daughter.